Poland orders Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles for the first time
27 March, 2025 Borsuk infantry fighting vehicle. Photo credits: Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa Poland has ordered more than a hundred domestically produced Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles and is preparing its production facilities for them.
Polish media Defence24 reported on this. On Thursday, March 27, Colonel Piotr Paluch, Deputy Chairman of the Arms Agency, signed a contract with Huta Stalowa Wola to produce 111 Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles worth 6.5 billion zlotys, or about £1.67 billion. Deliveries will be made in the period between 2025 and 2029 and will allow two mechanized battalions of the Polish Armed Forces to be partially re-equipped with the new vehicles.
Huta Stalowa Wola, on its own initiative, undertook the production of about a dozen pre-production Borsuk vehicles before signing the contract. Portal Obronny reporters filmed them at the company's plant. The vehicles will be delivered in a basic version with a crew of three and an airborne compartment for six soldiers. They will be equipped with the Polish-designed ZSSW-30 remote-controlled combat module, which is also used in the latest versions of Rosomak armored personnel carriers.
The ZSSW-30 turret is equipped with a 30-mm Mk.44 Bushmaster II automatic cannon adapted for programmable ammunition and a twin Spike-LR ATGM launcher. The module is equipped with an automated fire control system developed by WB Electronics, Polish stabilized sights from PCO with thermal imaging cameras, a laser rangefinder, and the SSP-1 Obra active protection system.
The ZSSW-30 turret. Photo credits: Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa
Large contract and production scale
Defence24 noted that the key problem in agreeing on the contract was its price: mass production of a vehicle that has just entered mass production requires the modernization of facilities and expansion of the main Huta Stalowa Wola plant. HSW and its subsidiaries (including Jelcz and its Autosan subsidiary) have made significant investments in production, totaling almost PLN 1.4 billion.
All of this allowed the plant to be prepared for the serial production of new armored personnel carriers more quickly. The contract for 111 vehicles was the first, but certainly not the last, as the Polish army's total need for infantry fighting vehicles and other equipment based on it, according to the Ministry of Defense, is 1400 units. Of these, more than 1000 are armored personnel carriers, and about 400 are specialized vehicles.
As a reminder, it was recently reported that Huta Stalowa Wola was developing a heavy infantry fighting vehicle on the Krab chassis.